BOULDER — It was about the time he took the first bite of his In-N-Out cheeseburger on the team bus in Arizona, long after Saturday night had melted into Sunday morning, that celebration turned into nerves for Colorado football coach Mike MacIntyre.

His team had just blasted Arizona 49-24, improving to 8-2. MacIntyre was already looking ahead to his biggest game since he left sunny San Jose for Boulder four years ago to become the head coach at a dormant program, which was further removed from its glory days than even the two decades that had fallen off the calendar suggested.

As his famished players chowed down and reveled in their sixth Pac-12 victory in seven tries, MacIntyre already felt his stomach rumble as he began thinking of the task that Washington State and its high-flying offense would produce a week later.

He also reflected on the journey of the boys on the bus.

“The most fulfilling thing you get as a coach is to see those guys’ eyes and see their faces and see them enjoy it and accomplish something no one thought they could accomplish,” MacIntyre said. “And how many times in life do you get to do something that nobody thinks you can do? And you may have even doubted it. Then you overcome doubt and you overcome fear, and you can’t teach them a better life lesson than that. That excites my heart.”

Having already slain the improbable, the unthinkable has arrived for No. 12 Colorado. Beat No. 20 Washington State (8-2, 7-0 Pac-12) at Folsom Field on Saturday, and the Buffaloes will play for their first Pac-12 division championship next Saturday against Utah. An appearance in the conference title game, a Rose Bowl berth, a spot in the College Football Playoff semifinals, those shiny goals would all still be left on the table.

“We’ve got to do everything in our power to be prepared to go out there and basically play for a Pac-12 championship,” said CU senior quarterback Sefo Liufau, who endured physical, mental and emotional hardship during his first three lowly seasons to reach this point. “Basically, everything is in our hands right now. If we let it go, who knows what will happen?”

The Buffs, four-point favorites Saturday, know the simplest part of their championship formula: Win the next two games, and CU will win the Pac-12 South and play in the conference title game. Lose on Saturday, and the Buffs would need USC to fall to crosstown archrival UCLA on Saturday night to keep their league title dreams alive heading into the matchup with Utah at Folsom Field.

The stakes also are high for the Cougars, the Pac-12 North leaders who have constructed their own awe-inspiring rise under renegade coach Mike Leach. Washington State was picked to finish fourth in the North, but that seemed far too generous after the Cougars dropped their first two games — including a head-scratching loss to FCS member Eastern Washington.

Fans were bewildered. In 2015, in its fourth season under Leach, Washington State had broken through with a 9-4 record that snapped a decade of losing seasons. The Cougars were supposed to climb higher in 2016, but the early returns seemed to shoot up warning flags.

The Cougars say they never flinched. They rebounded to win eight consecutive games, putting themselves in position to win their division with one victory in their final two games.

“Losing is definitely not a fuel to our fire,” said Washington State wide receiver Gabe Marks. “We would have loved to have not lost those games. That would have been really cool, but things happen. We just tried to move past it. What fires up the team? Just trying to win games fires up the team.”

So the Buffs and Cougars will meet Saturday afternoon in front of what could be a capacity crowd at Folsom Field and in front of a national television audience, each team desperate to strengthen its championship dreams.

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